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City of Alexandria Selects James B. Spengler as Director of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities

July 17, 2009

News Highlights:

• James B. Spengler is selected as Alexandria’s Director of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities. He is scheduled to begin on August 10, 2009.

City Manager James K. Hartmann today announced the appointment of James B. Spengler as the new Director of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities. The Director of Recreation, Parks, and Cultural Activities is responsible for the administration of year-round, city-wide parks, recreation and cultural activity programming for the City of Alexandria.

Mr. Spengler possesses more than 35 years of experience in the field of parks and recreation management. Prior to his appointment as the City’s Director, Mr. Spengler served as the Director of the Metropolitan Park District of the Toledo Area in Northwest Ohio. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing a park district that served five counties in both Ohio and Michigan, serving a total population of 833,000. He managed more than 10,000 acres of parkland in the district and his duties included land acquisition, park planning, construction, land management, botanical garden and arts programs, maintenance, special events, environmental and history programs, historic sites, finance, and human resources. Mr. Spengler also served for nine years as the Director of Parks and Recreation in Arlington, Texas, six years as the General Manager of the North Bakersfield Recreation and Park District in California, and six years as the Executive Director of the Prince William Park Authority in Virginia.

Mr. Spengler has a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Texas – Arlington, a Master’s in Education from the University of Virginia, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Virginia. He was born and raised in the Beverly Hills neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia, and graduated from the former Hammond High School. Mr. Spengler is scheduled to begin on August 10.